Post by Lenin Cat on Apr 27, 2016 16:24:30 GMT -5
Jake slept on the couch, the soft buzzing of the TV filling his ears. The house was silent, his sister Daisy curled up next to him. He hadn't heard his housefolk leave, but he knew they were gone, to come back in a few hours....
Jake yawned and stretched, his sister still sleeping beside him. Outside, long shadows stretched, showing twilight was here. He frowned. The housefolk hadn't returned, and he now realized both of the cars they had were still there. He leapt off the couch and padded through the house to the door. He stopped as he heard a scratching noise. He pushed open the cat flap to see Lily, a slender, beautiful white she-cat. "Lily! How are you?" he asked. Lily stepped into the house "Fine, but likely not for long. Bo called a meeting in his garden. He is gathering fellow house-cats. Jake, if you haven't noticed already, our housefolk are gone. All of them, without a trace," Jake stepped back "How? Impossible! Where could they have gone?" he cried. Lily shrugged "I don't know, but they are gone. Every twoleg in the entirety of Atlanta. Get Daisy and come over. Bo is talking about what we are going to do to survive," she turned and bounded out, heading down the street towards Bo's house.
...
Jake and Daisy soon arrived at Bo's house. Bo himself stood atop a car and below him was an assembly of many cats Jake knew. Several were his siblings that were in different houses.
Bo was talking to them "The times have changed, my fellows. All twolegs are gone, thus we have no one to feed us and keep us safe. It will not take long for other animals to start moving into this place. Wolves, bears, and wild cats. Things will rapidly become very dangerous. To survive, we must stick together or we will die with no one to bury us. We must resort to what our ancestors did long ago. We must hunt for food and water, mark out a territory and defend it. We must make a secure place for our next generation," he glanced at Bella, who was pregnant with kits "and we must learn to defend ourselves. The twolegs are gone, and they are not coming back," he finished. His gathering nodded and murmured among themselves.
Jake nodded slowly; Bo may have been born a housecat, but he often hunted in the woods and fought with cats at night. He was intelligent too, and he knew how to survive.
Jake padded up to Bo "So, what do you have in mind,"
Bo looked around the skyline, the buildings of downtown Atlanta gleaming in the sunset.
"We will set up in my house, as there is plenty of cover in there. No need to sleep outside, yet. Let's get inside, I will teach everyone some fighting moves and hunting moves tomorrow,"
Bo padded inside via the cat-flap. His following, numbering about thirteen, looked for a place to setup. Bo looked around the house, clean and polished
"Everyone find a place to sleep. I will teach you some fighting moves before we go to sleep, so if we get attacked in the night, we will at least have a clue on how to fight," he paced the foyer
"Zeke, you are competent in fighting moves. Attack me, but with claws sheathed," he added. Zeke nodded and hurled himself towards Bo. Bo sidestepped as smooth as a viper and hooked a paw from under Zeke, causing him to stumble and fall face first onto the carpet. Bo nodded
"Did you see what I did there. I hooked his paws from under him, tangling him in them. Once he was down, I could easy pounce on him and give him some serious wounds. Alright, I will teach you what you should do if you get pinned with your belly skyward. Zeke, attack me,"
Bo flipped over, exposing his soft belly. Zeke nodded and pounced on him. Bo and Zeke tumbled for a few moments, but then Bo heaved and flipped over, pinning Zeke down. Jake was surprised, he had heard tales of Bo's fighting skill, but he never thought the heavy-set yellow and white tom was agile and strong like that! Bo got off Zeke, and both cats stood together in the foyer
"That is enough fighting for now. I will show you the hunting crouch tomorrow. Let's all get a good night's sleep,"
Outside, darkness was quickly gathering and Jake felt a shiver deep in his bones. Life just became much, much more deadly.
...
Jake grunted as a paw poked him in the side. He blinked open his eyes to see Leo standing over him. It was still dark outside, the light of the stars and moon filling the room. The lights of the Atlanta had died yesterday, the source behind them having died. Now, the city was a dark as the forest, even more so.
"It's your turn on watch. After you, it's Yuri," Leo said.
He padded over to the pillow he slept on and fell asleep, his snores filling the air. Jake sighed and padded over to the windowsill looking out over the yard and street. The second sentry, Lucy, was watching the backyard. Despite the twolegs having been gone for about a week, Jake was still not used to this new life. Things were going from bad to worse. Stray cat groups were now on the warpath, with no twolegs around to keep them in check. Jake bore several scars from an encounter. Also, there were reports of deer from cats that were not as quick to attack. That was very bad. Deer themselves were harmless, but they brought in carnivores. Wolves would soon be coming in. There was also rumors of tigers and lions. That was very bad too. They must have escaped the zoo. At least there was plenty of food. Jake knew how to hunt, and he found rat could be pretty good. He really liked squirrel and there were plenty of those. Every cat in the group knew how to hunt now, as Bo had been very quick to teach them how to hunt. Yesterday, Bo had established a hierarchy and had sent small patrols out to establish a territory. Several new cats had been taken in, like Flower, who stood beside him. Flower was a former housecat, who had been found terrified and hungry. She had quickly accepted to come into the group. She was a pretty ginger, kind and friendly. Jake found himself enjoying looking at her, as did many of the mate less toms.
"Wonderful night. There were never so many stars when the city was lit. I have never seen half as much!" she said, gazing up at the night.
Jake nodded. She was right; the lights from Atlanta had glared out the stars. He froze as he detected a scent, harsh and reeking of rotting food and trash. He glanced at Flower
"Scent that?" he asked her.
She nodded "I have scented that before. My mother told me it was dangerous, but I don't know why," she added.
Jake nodded and jumped down, the carpet muffling his landing. The scent was coming from upstairs, where Lucy was standing guard. He and Flower slid up the stairs, making not a sound. They heard nothing, but the scent grew stronger. They padded into the bedroom, where Lucy was. He froze at the sight he saw. Lucy lay crumpled and unconscious on the floor, a massive gray animal with a black face loomed over her. A raccoon! The raccoon looked up and growled slowly when it saw them. Flower looked petrified, but Jake turned and yowled into the foyer
"Raccoon! It got Lucy! To battle! Wake up you sewer rats! A coon got Lucy!" he cried.
Violence exploded at once. Surprised yowls filled the foyer and cats dashed from where they slept, racing to the stairs. The raccoon itself lumbered forward, snarling in it's harsh tongue. Flower reared up and slashed it's face. Jake leapt forward, fear driving him forward. He ducked under it and slid across the carpet, friction burning him. He slashed it's belly, blood oozing from the scars. The raccoon grunted and dropped down, smashing Jake flat. He couldn't breath, gray dirty fur filling his vision. Suddenly, the coon was knocked off of him, Bo stood over him, the massive tomcat fluffed up almost as big as the coon. Behind him was the entire group, claws bared and teeth gleaming. The raccoon growled, but fear lit it's eyes and it darted out the open window, clambered across the tree branch and vanished into the night.